Arizona Senate Begins Impeachment Trial of Mecham

The Arizona Senate began hearing evidence here today against Gov. Evan Mecham in the first impeachment trial of a governor in almost 60 years.

After the Senate overwhelmingly defeated a series of motions to postpone the trial or dismiss the charges, Mr. Mecham's defense team formally entered pleas of not guilty on behalf of the Governor, who did not attend the session.

The trial opened with the Governor's defense team in apparent disarray. In a suprise move last week, Mr. Mecham replaced his Phoenix lawyers, giving the new ones three days to review more than 20,000 pages of documents, several volumes of court transcripts and dozens of taped interviews.

''The Senate trial of Evan Mecham does not concern merely this one officeholder but instead addresses the very essence of democracy in our State Constitution,'' said the Senate minority leader, Alan Stephens, a Democrat of Phoenix, in an opening statement. Two-Thirds Majority Needed

The Governor, a Republican, also faces a May 17 election prompted by a petition drive to recall him from office and a March 22 criminal trial on charges that he violated state election laws by hiding the campaign loan.

The Arizona Supreme Court is expected to rule Tuesday on an effort by Mr. Mecham's attorneys to delay the Senate trial until after the criminal trial.

A two-thirds majority of the 30-member Senate is needed for conviction. There are 19 Republicans and 11 Democrats in the Senate. The trial is expected to last two to three months.

At a news conference this afternoon, Mr. Mecham said ''I am very confident of being exonerated.''

Mr. Mecham was impeached by the State House by a vote of 46 to 14 on Feb. 5, in what was tantamount to an indictment in a criminal case. A few days later the House approved and sent to the Senate 23 impeachment articles.

Since then Mr. Mecham has traveled across the state proclaiming his innocence and charging that he is the victim of a political vendetta.

Referring to William P. French, the lead prosecutor, Mr. Mecham said: ''Mr. French would like to hang me at high noon from whatever cottonwood there is. It's not the object of what's good for the state of Arizona. It's the object of a lynch mob trying to get rid of a Governor because they don't like him.'' Political Changes

Although a large crowd of supporters had been expected to demonstrate at the trial, only a handful appeared outside the state Capitol. One set up a paper railroad track, mocking the Senate trial; others waved placards charging that the trial was a sham and calling for the recall of several legislators.

Mr. Mecham's impeachment has polarized the state, sparking a bruising battle that has fractured Arizona's powerful Republican party and led to sharp gains in Democratic voter registration.

Several groups, most of which are thought to be allied with the 63-year-old Governor, have filed petitions to recall at least 17 state legislators who voted for or announced that they supported impeachment.

The recall election also is shaping up as one of the state's most divisive campaigns. So far 106 residents have taken the first step toward filing to run in the election and many veterans of Arizona politics are warning that the plethora of potential candidates may split the opposition, allowing Mr. Mecham to win the election. The Governor has vowed to wage a ''highly professional campaign.'' Series of Motions

Much of the proceedings today were devoted to a series of defense motions to dismiss the charges or delay the trial.

In arguing the motions, Mr. Meacham's new attorney, Jerris Leonard, insisted that the Governor was not guilty. ''This man hasn't dipped his hands into public funds,'' Mr. Leonard said. ''He has not ripped off the treasury. He hasn't committed high crimes in office, and I urge you to dismiss these articles of impeachment.''

But prosecutors argued that the evidence was overwhelming.

''The articles of impeachment are not just legally sufficient for conviction, they do cry out for conviction,'' responded one of the prosecutors, Paul Eckstein.

The impeachment trial is the first of a governor since 1929 when the Oklahoma Senate convicted Gov. Henry S. Johnston for working with the Ku Klux Klan, according to Thad Beyle, a professor of political science at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since the colonies joined to form the United States, 16 governors have been impeached, several twice, and seven have been convicted.

Mr. Mecham's problems began almost as soon as he was elected in 1986 with 39 percent of the vote in a three-way race. In what was only the first of series of controversial decisions, he antagonized minorities by canceling a state holiday to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Governor, who has made verbal confrontation into a personal trademark, dismissed his growing legion of critics. In outspoken attacks, he offended one group after another, fueling the campaign to recall him from office.

He also alienated many potential allies among Republicans and conservative Democrats by a series of unpopular nominations, including a liquor commissioner suspected of involvement in a slaying in Mexico, an education director who testified that teachers should not contradict parents even if they tell children that the world is flat and a tax commissioner who had not paid his state taxes.

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A version of this article appears in print on March 1, 1988, on Page A00013 of the National edition with the headline: Arizona Senate Begins Impeachment Trial of Mecham. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe